Customer Reviews

The Rose: An Illustrated History

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This large coffee-table book features beautiful rose illustations, many never seen before, from the archives of the Royal Horticultural Society. The artists include John Lindley, Alfred Parsons, Mary Lawrence and of course probably the most famous rose artist of all time, Pierre Joseph Redoute. The author also includes an introduction to the history of rose cultivation, from 5000 years ago in China when species roses were grown and he discusses how these roses were used by present day hybridizers to create our modern-day roses. Many of these roses' history have been unknown but recent DNA analysis has helped solve the mysteries of their heritage. Highly informative or just beautiful to look at, this is a beautiful book.

I had been looking for years for a large beautifully illustrated book that would cover the history of the rose in art and culture throughout the world. I thought this book was it, and I was so excited, especially after glimpsing the first chapter on line. When I received the book, I was horribly disappointed - only the first chapter covers the rose in art and culture - the rest of this huge heavy tome is illustrated with hundreds of botanical rose illustrations taken from the Horticultural Society's collection. This book is good for the serious rose grower who wants to know detailed information on each type of rose, their latin names, and what parent roses were used to create hybrids. With that said, it is a beautiful book, but not what I was looking for - I gave it away to someone. So this still leaves a niche wide open for a beautiful history of roses that would appeal to a wide audience - it's hard to believe that this has not been done yet.